The Loveland Tigers went from the bottom of the Eastern Cincinnati Conference to one of the hottest football teams in all of the 513, and they looked to keep the hype train rolling as they traveled up north to face ECC opponent Little Miami. Despite the tremendous talent on their roster, the Panthers had yet to win a game on the season, while the Tigers were looking to win five straight games, which would be their longest winning streak since 2015.
On the first play, it looked like the Tigers would run away with this one, as Dylan Hacker (11) took the opening kick back into Panther territory, setting the Tigers up with great field position. However, Colton Endicott (12) was stuffed on a 4th and 1 a couple of plays later and the Panther’s defense made a statement early to give their offense a chance to put points on the board. Early in the drive, Luke Brewsaugh found Matthew Lyons over the middle for a 62-yard touchdown to give the Panthers the early 6-0 lead. The Panthers continued their momentum, recovering an onside kick on the next play to try and extend their early lead. However, Kolby King (12) denied the Panthers their chance with an interception off of Brewsaugh, and the Tigers were back on offense. The two teams would trade punts, and then the Loveland offense would finally get going, as Tyler Roberts (11) found Julius Vorbroker (12) for a 67-yard completion, and then found Henry Bradley (11) for a 13-yard touchdown, giving the Tigers their first lead at 7-6.
The Tigers would then force another turnover, as Drew Holman (12) forced a fumble inside the Little Miami 40. The Tigers would take advantage of this turnover, as Endicott would punch it in from five yards out for his first touchdown of the night, extending the Tiger lead to 14-6. This momentum only kept building offensively for Loveland. After the defense forced a punt, Roberts found Hacker over the middle of the field for the 62-yard touchdown and suddenly, the Tigers were in control. After a couple of punts from each team, Brewsaugh drove the Panthers down the field and found Elisha Jones to cut the lead to 8, making it 20-12. However, the Tiger's offensive momentum was still rolling and on the first play of the drive, Endicott took another one to this house, this time from 70 yards, and allowed the Tigers to close the half up 27-12. Rhys Jones would have a rushing touchdown to cut the lead to one possession in the second half, but Endicott’s third touchdown of the night, off of an interception by Vorbroker, would seal the deal and the Tigers survived a scare in Morrow, 34-26.
Endicott continued his monster season on the ground, rushing for 150 yards and 3 touchdowns to lead the Tigers to victory once again. Vorbroker continued his dominance on both sides of the ball, having 113 receiving yards to go along with an interception on defense. As for the defensive guys, Holman and Max Carver (11) led the charge with seven tackles each. The Tigers host the Winton Woods Warriors this Friday for Senior Night. The theme is blackout. Be there!